The Moonlight Massacre Mansion
by Redd-Cliff-Rhapsody
Summary: (R for later chapters filled with gore) A mansion where many people were murdered, or at least that's what people think, Dib, and a game of nasty Truth or Dare. hm, where will this lead?...
1. Default Chapter

I know, I know, you're all probably going to yell at me loudly for not posting another the Sky is Crying chapter, but what can I say?  I need to take a break from that fanfic, having major writer's block whenever I open it up for editing.  Heh, with my luck I'm going to get inspired when I'm not near a piece of paper or a computer.  

Ah well, anyways.  This is what I'm going to try and make a horror, and yes it is vaguely ripped off of Resident Evil… sorry, I've been slightly interested in RE ever since I saw someone beat the end of the game.   Then I rented the movie, watched it, decided it was kinda weak (a freakin' Hunter… no Tyrant, nooope…) and decided, after a while, to write this.  Hopefully ya'll will enjoy this.  

Okay, warnings and stuff: gonna be gore in later chapters, most likely hints at a ZaDR, and zombies.  Lots of them.   Also, Dib is sixteen in the story, folks!  Sixteen! Can drive! Has a license!  And all that junk! ... Yeah. 

Disclaimer: Well, Jhonen Vasquez owns the names "Dib" and "Zim", but since I advanced the timeline, added new characters, and added zombies, this is really pretty much my story.  Er, wait, no! DON'T SEND THE CHEERLEADING SQUAD AFTER MEEE!! I don't own anything! Anything! 

---

Dib sighed.  Another pointless game of truth or dare with these so-called 'friends' of his.  They actually hung out with him, although made fun of him daily, so he guessed he could consider them friends.  

The full moon shone overhead, casting the group of people and Dib in a ghostly light.  They were outside, in a park about five minute's walk away from Dib's house.    

Dib was shocked out of his silent thinking when one of his friends, Cyrus, a guy about 5'11" with spiked back blonde hair, punched him in the arm.  It hurt.  

"Oy, Dib!" Cyrus said loudly in his vaguely English accent, "Truth or Dare, Sydney asked you!" 

"Oh, sorry."  Dib mumbled, slightly embarrassed.  "Uhh, Dare." 

Sydney, a girl of 5'4" with hair that's color changed weekly, got a nasty grin.  Her glow-in-the-dark contact lenses almost flashed with mischief, but of course, they were contacts, so Dib couldn't be sure.  "So, Dibby dear, ever heard of the Moonlight Massacre Mansion?"

"What?  Oh, you mean that place fifteen miles outside of town?"  Dib questioned.  "I saw in the newspaper that a neighbor four miles off never got a call she was supposed to, went over to the mansion and found the dead bodies of all the servants piled up in the ballroom."  He recited, like he memorized the whole event.   "What about it?"

Cyrus, Sydney, and the other three, Dag, Lydia and Rex all groaned as Dib recited.  "Isn't it obvious?"  Cyrus asked, slightly annoyed.  "This lovely bird wants you to go to the Moonlight Massacre Mansion."

"Yeah," Sydney jumped to agree. "Stay there all night, if you don't, what the hell kind of paranormal investigator are you?"

Dib got an offended look at that.  "I _am_ a Paranormal Investigator!"  He exclaimed, frowning.  "I know a real live alien!"

"That Zim kid at Hi Skool?  Dude, I think you're just saying that as a closet gay."  Dag said, accusation in his tone.  The rest of the gang burst out laughing, except for Dib. 

"Well, whatever sexuality Dib is," Lydia said, the first one, as a full-blown goth, to stop laughing, "He's got to take that hunk of junk car his father gave him, and us along to make sure he stays there, to the Moonlight Massacre Mansion."  

Rex gave a feral grin, and wrapped a leather jacket-covered arm around Lydia's waist.  "Yeah, Dib, you've gotta take us too.  Can't have you freakin' out and runnin' out of the Mansion, can we?"  

Dib didn't really want to go, he had a sneaking suspicion that the rest of the group would follow him in and try to scare him out of the house, but he knew they wouldn't let it drop if he refused.  Dib sighed slightly.  "Alright, lets go get my 'Hunk of Junk' car."  

"Yeah!  All right!" a chorus of encouraging yells came from the rest of the group, and Dag and Cyrus, who were on each side of Dib, slapped him on the back.   A feeling of impending doom floated in on the air. 

---

Dib drove in silence as Lydia stared out at the road twining out in front of them from the passenger seat, and the rest of the group talked and laughed in the bed of the beat up rust red truck while it sped along the road.  Lydia was looking annoyed, Dib assumed it was because Rex and the rest excluded her from the bed of the truck.   

Silently, Dib reached out a hand to turn on the radio.  Lydia's hand met his, and the goth girl squeezed Dib's hand.  "Don't.  Silence.  Please."  

Dib retracted his hand, nodding.  He decided to honor Lydia's request, why not?  She was the only one who was polite to him half the time.  

"…Thanks."  Lydia said.  The rest of the drive was conducted in silence.  

In about ten minutes, they'd already been on the road five, Dib took a side road.  He slowed the truck as they went down the dark tree-lined driveway to the Mansion.  For an unmanned estate, the trees were trimmed well enough to not scrape against the car.  

After about half a minute, the truck broke free of the trees, coming out into a clearing where a brick wall was seen.  Tall, spiraling iron gates were chained together, the chains sloppily tied instead of locked with a padlock.  Police tape was crisscrossed over the fence, in various forms of sun bleaching.  

Dib slowed the truck to a halt, and he could feel the truck move, bouncing on its tires.  Lydia shifted to look out the back window before commenting, "Dag is getting out of the truck.  I think he's going to unlock the gate." 

"Wonderful…" Dib muttered sarcastically.  

What Lydia said was proved right, as Dag soon came into view.  He walked up to the gate and unwrapped the chains before shoving the gates open and giving a thumbs-up.  

Dib slowly drove the car forwards, and as it passed Dag, Dag vaulted into the bed of the truck.  Stepping on the gas pedal, Dib drove faster up the driveway until it reached the house.  Dib slowed the truck as he pulled up in front of the house.  A covered walkway, columns holding the roof up, lead up to the double doors that led into the mansion.  Two stories, the mansion was intimidating at the least.  Scarier at night, as well. 

Police tape was crisscrossed on the boards that sealed the broken windows that occasionally dotted the mansion front.  On the second floor, Dib scanned the windows, taking in the layout of the building.  Broken window, cracked window, window, window, shadow in window, window…wait, what?  Dib quickly looked back to the window that had had a shadow in it.  There was nothing there.  Probably a trick of the light. 

While Dib was staring at the house, the others had jumped out of the bed of the truck.  Rex suddenly banged on the driver's side window, making Dib jump.  "Get yer ass out here!"  Rex yelled through the glass.  

Lydia's door slammed shut, and the goth girl was out of the car.  Dib debated hitting Rex with the car, but sighed and got out of it to face his doomy…er…doom.  

Sydney grinned, shoving her hands into her jeans pockets.  "So, Dibby, gonna go?"  the moonlight shone down on the group, and Sydney's glow-in-the-dark contacts glowed eerily.  

"Go on in, Dib, or are you scared…?"  Cyrus teased, causing chuckles from the rest of the group, again, apart from Dib.  

"I'm not scared."  Dib grumbled, shoving his hands into his trench coat pockets.  

"Then, go."  Rex commanded, wrapping his arm around Lydia again.  

"Give him a flashlight."  Lydia suddenly commanded.  People paused to look at her, including Dib. 

Rex hugged Lydia closer to him with his one arm.  "Lyds,  you feelin' okay?" 

"Fine."  Lydia grumbled, rolling her eyes.  "It's just that if he runs into a murderer, he should be able to see it in full light."

"Good idea, Lyds!" Dag exclaimed, grinning before running around to the passenger side of the truck, opening the door and rummaging through the glove compartment.  Dag pulled out a flashlight before Dib could protest him looking through the glove compartment, and tossed it over the car to Dib, who caught it.  

"Okay, now go."  Sydney commanded.  Cyrus agreed with her quickly, and the others chimed in one by one.   Dib sighed slightly before shoving the flashlight into his pocket, then turning and walking down the walkway.  

A soft breeze blew along, the leaves that were previously on the walkway skittered across it, making soft scratchy noises.  Dib walked on, ignoring the leaves that blew past his boots.  For some reason, Dib had a creeping feeling that something other than the group was watching him.  He fought the animal urge to run back to the car and get away.   

Dib locked his gaze on the double doors, not paying attention to anything else than that.   Right before he reached the doors, Dib paused and glanced over his shoulder.  The group was watching with almost nasty gazes, all but Lydia, who didn't really seem to care.   Dib gulped, and another breeze blew by, making his trench coat billow.  Dib turned and took a few steps forward before resting his hand on the handle of the door.   A shudder went through him of fear, but he ignored it.  The stories were just that; stories!  He reasoned to himself before pushing the doors open and walking inside. 

But as the doors shut behind him, Dib wasn't too sure that the stories would stay stories. 


	2. Dead Things and Chains

Okee, second chapter.  Kinda longer than the other one, innit?  Ah well.  Well, go ahead and hit me over the head for not continuing the Sky is Crying, but man… I've got many ideas for it, but like, I have to write to get to the ideas.  The maintenance, the maintenance… I've also got another idea for another IZ fic (Yes.  Another.  I reeeally need to switch to a new fandom sometime…), and I'm gonna try and make it comedy.  But to see what it's about?  Ha! You have to waaaiiit… 

Now that I think about it, you probably don't care about the updates… eheh.   ^^;;; okay, okay, no need to throw things.  Onward!  To the fic!

Disclaimer:  I think we all know I don't own it by now.  What?  You aren't sure?  Okay, I don't.  fine.   Understand now?  Invader Zim = NOT MINE.  Never shall be mine. Ect. Yeah.  Fic.  Now.  

---

Dib sighed again, wishing he wasn't in the Moonlight Massacre Mansion before reaching into his trench coat pocket and switching the light on.  Flashing the flashlight around the room, Dib took in his surroundings, or what he could see with the pitiful light of his flashlight. 

A stairway was the first thing that met Dib's gaze.  Dusty red carpet flowed down the steps, not ending until it reached the door.  Dib realized he was standing on the red carpet.  Turning the beam to the side, Dib sighted a wall with many portraits hanging on the wall.  They were creepy portraits, all the faces seemed to be scribbled out with a sharpie or some other kind of pen, or ripped out of the portrait Itself.  

Something seemed to be seriously wrong with this Mansion.  

Turning the beam to the floor, Dib traced the pattern on the floor, white marble and lapis lazuli seemed to create a pattern or a picture that was hidden under the red carpet.  On the white marble, there were some rust colored stains that looked sickeningly enough like light bloodstains.  

Dib changed the way the beam was facing again, this time to the right wall.  More portraits lined the walls, but a door was also visible on the wall.   Dib glanced around, trying to memorize where everything was without the light and failing brilliantly.   He wondered idly if they expected him to explore, or if he could stay in the greeting room all night long. 

"It took you long enough to get here, Stinkbeast…"  A voice Dib recognized said, a smirk clearly imprinted on the tone of voice used.  

Dib yelped and jumped, waving his flashlight around before it landed on a figure at the top of the stairs with green skin, black antennae and red eyes.  "Zim!" Dib practically shrieked, outraged.  "What are _you_ doing here?!" 

Zim smirked, obviously hiding something behind his back.  "I'm here, Dib-human, to make sure you don't try to plot anything!  You must not try to outthink my superior Irken brain, for it will result in your end!  And I'd rather you stick around to see your planet's doomy fate."  

"It's never going to happen, Alien Scum!"  Dib yelled back.  "Earth will defeat you!"  

"Oh, whatever."  Zim dismissed Dib's announcement with a wave of his gloved hand.  Zim hadn't changed much in six years, he was still the same height and all that, which he attributed to his liver to keep incognito.  "Nobody believes your claims, Dib-human, not even the wormbabies you call 'friends' outside!" 

Dib didn't have a comeback to that one, he knew nobody believed that Zim was an alien.  "Erm, well…" Dib started, but a sudden rattling of a door handle broke him out of his search for words.   Both Dib and Zim jumped.  

"Scared, Alien?"  Dib managed to say, no matter how shakily.  "Are you, human?"  Zim asked back, equally as shaky.  There was silence for a few seconds, and both Dib and Zim glanced at each other.  At this time, Dib was thankful for the fact that he and Zim could understand each other at times.  

"Er, want to stay in the same ro—" Dib started off, but Zim cut in, trying to stay indifferent.  "Yes, Dib-human, if only to keep your petty fears from destroying your fragile human mind.  I want to destroy that myself."  

And so, a few minutes found Dib and Zim sitting on the lower step of the stairs, Dib flashing the light beam from his flashlight around the room boredly.  The rattling of the door handle hadn't happened again, but both Zim and Dib felt like staying in the same room as the other.  The Mansion was, frankly, creepy.  

"Sooo…" Dib started an attempt at a conversation.   "Was it you who was the shadow in the second story window?"  

"What window?  I was never in a window, Dib-human."  Zim said, almost disgustedly.  "Your puny human imagination has been playing tricks on you again."  

Dib stopped flashing the flashlight around.   "It wasn't you?  I was sure I saw something in the second story window.  Human-shaped."  

Zim looked at Dib as if Dib was stupid.  "Your imagination, Dib.  That's all it was." 

"But I swear…" Dib started, before pausing and thinking of something.  "Hey, Zim, if it wasn't you in the window… and we heard the door handle rattling… do you think that-?"

"There's someone else in the house…?"  Zim asked back, then snorted slightly.  "You know as well as I do, Dib-human, that nobody was left in the house after the massacre." 

Dib raised an eyebrow.  "So you do read the newspapers.  Ah, it's probably just one of the homeless insane."

Both Dib and Zim were silent for a bit, neither looking at each other.   Both of them were getting bored.   So, finally, Zim spoke.  "Do you want to go—?" Zim started, then Dib cut in.  "Find the homeless guy?  Sure."

"Alright."

"Okay." 

"… Are you going to get up first, Dib-human, or am I going to have to?"

---

Dag sighed, a puff of cigarette smoke blooming out of his mouth along with his breath.  Leaning against Dib's rust-red truck, Dag brought the cigarette back to his mouth to take a long drag off of it.  

"Think he's spooked in there?" Cyrus asked Dag, Sydney's arm around his shoulder.  

"Dib? Nah, he's fine, for now."  Dag muttered, spewing out more cigarette smoke.  

Rex grinned from his spot by Lydia, both were sitting in the back of the truck.  "Got a plan, Dag?"

"When has Dag not had a plan, Rexxie?"  Sydney asked, smirking slightly and raised an eyebrow at him.  "So, what we gonna do, Dag?"

Dag breathed another cloud of smoke, which floated up in a ghostly way, Illuminated by the full moon's silky light, before dissipating.  "Sneak in the back way, locate Dib and scare the shit out of him.  This place ain't haunted, just a house where some inbred family went crazy and disappeared." 

"Creepy setting, though.  I like it."  Lydia commented from the bed of the truck.  

Sydney snorted in amusement.  "Course ya would, Lyds."

Dag tossed his cigarette on the ground and stomped it out, pushing himself off of the truck.  "So, we got a plan?"

"You've got a plan, and we're gonna follow it."  Cyrus corrected, grinning.  "And we're all in, mate."  
  


---

"They've got, er, dead people, in the back yard."  Was the first thing that came out of Cyrus's mouth as soon as he got to the backyard.  Lydia rolled her eyes in amusement.  "It's a private cemetery, you dumb-ass."

"Whatever."   Rex grumbled.  "Lets just get in the house. I don't like cemeteries."   

Sydney made a cooing noise, and asked in a high pitched voice, "Aww, is widdle Rexxie scawed?"  Dag snickered slightly and Rex's ears tinted pink.  

"No!"  Rex exclaimed, annoyed.  Shoving his hands into his leather bomber jacket's pockets, Rex grumbled, then said "Lets just get in the fuckin' mansion."  

"Hey, don't get so worked up, Rexxie."  Cyrus said, smirking as he used Sydney's nickname for Rex.  

Lydia shivered slightly, it was slightly cold outside.  A chilling breeze brushed by, leaves winding around the group's feet.   "Can we just get this over with?"  She asked, annoyed. 

"Alright! Hey, alright.  Look, I think there's a door over there…" Cyrus said, squinting at the wall of the mansion.  Past the first line of randomly placed gravestones, there was a door on the Mansion Wall.  A balcony was placed above the door, for the second story.  The door had a few bullet holes in it, which was strange, to say the least.  

Lydia was the first to step into the private cemetery, steel-toed boots trying to avoid any graves but failing every once in a while.   Rex was soon to follow, then Cyrus, Sydney and Dag.  The rest of the group didn't have as much respect for the dead as Lydia did, it seemed, as they stepped on the graves, uncaring.  

As the first one to reach the door, Lydia was the first one to try and open the door.  "It's locked."  She remarked calmly before stepping away from the door.   

"Let me try."  Sydney said, pulling a pin from her hair and kneeling before the door handle.  In a few seconds, Sydney murmured "ah!" and there was a quiet click originating from the door.   

Dag stared accusingly at Sydney as she stood up and replaced the pin in her hair. Cyrus opened the door and went in as Sydney was rearranging her hair, and Rex soon followed.  Lydia followed Rex, and soon Dag and Sydney were the only ones standing there.   "So that's how you got into my bedroom!  Damnit, Syd!"  Dag growled. 

Sydney gave Dag a wicked smile.  "Oh come on Dag, you know you liked it."  She said simply before walking inside.  

Dag grumbled a bit, kicking the ground and dawdling before entering the mansion.  He knew the place wasn't haunted, so it didn't bug him that he was alone.  Although, the graveyard was a little freaky.  And the shadows from the trees didn't look natural.  

Mentally, Dag kicked himself.  Listening to Dib's paranormal rantings and rambles was making him become paranoid, Dag decided before opening the Mansion's back door wide and stepping in.  Pulling the lighter he kept for lighting his cigarettes out of his pocket, Dag flicked on the lighter and glanced around.  Oh great, directly inside the halls split.  

Ah well, it was only a mansion, right?  If he got lost, somehow he'd find his way out and then stay in the truck, waiting for the rest.  He could lie about getting lost, couldn't he?

Dag randomly chose a hallway, and went left instead of right.  Walking down the corridor, Dag decided the mansion was a bit creepier when one only had a lighter to light the way.  Shadows danced along with the small flame from the lighter, paintings and photos adorning the walls suddenly looking scarier.  It didn't help that every portrait had its face torn out or scribbled over.  

Continuing down the hall, a feeling crept up the back of Dag's neck, which he credited to the darkness of the hall.  The place wasn't haunted, wasn't haunted, ghosts weren't real… just as Dag was reassuring himself of that fact, he heard glass breaking, up ahead of him.  There was also a quiet thump that followed soon after.  Dag really wanted to run back to the car at that moment, but he shoved the fear down.  Ghosts were not real.  

Dag did run, but towards where the noise had come from.  He soon reached a bend in the hallway, and he turned down the bend.  He came to more hallway, this time on the side of the house.  Windows lined the left wall, a ghostly light filtering through the wavy glass.  Dag walked, down the corridor, looking at each window.  He reached another bend in the hallway, and turned back, staring at the last window.  Only a few shards were in the window frame, sticking up from the frame like the defiant shards they were.  What made Dag stare longer, was the fact that there seemed to be a dark substance on the glass shards. 

Dag stepped forwards, ignoring the crackle of glass under his feet, reaching the hand clenched tightly now around the lighter out to view the glass.  Something dark, slightly gooey, was sitting on the glass shards.  It took him a second before he realized the substance.  Blood.  

Dag's heart beat faster, was he imagining this?  Why would there be blood?  Dag darted away from the window frame, staring at it almost like in a dream.  Suddenly, making his heart beat faster, Dag heard a groan.  A deep, moaning groan.  He couldn't locate where the groan came from, and it scared him… Dag was breathing faster, and he backed up slowly from the window.  Dag's back pressed into something, but what?  The wall was further away, he couldn't possibly have hit it, could he?   

"Oh Christ…"  Dag managed to whisper before two arms wrapped around his torso and a pain exploded at his neck.  Dag yelped, feeling a warm liquid start to drip down into his shirt and down his chest.  It took him a second, a pain-clouded second to realize what the warm liquid was, and when he did, his fate was sealed.  It was his own blood, he realized, before more white-hot biting agony struck his neck and everything faded to black.  

---

"Hey, did you hear something?"  Lydia asked, wrapping her own arm around Rex's waist and binding the two closer to each other.  Rex grinned.  "Hearin' stuff now, babe?"  he asked Lydia. 

"I didn't hear anything, Lyds." Cyrus said from in front of the pair.  Sydney was in front of the group now, having her hairpin to unlock doors and such.  So the line of people went, Sydney, Cyrus, Rex and Lydia.  

Lydia glanced around the dark narrow hallway, shivering slightly at the portraits with the ripped out faces.  "I just thought I heard something, I guess."

Rex glanced behind him, Lydia's talk of hearing noises freaked him out slightly.  The only light in the hallway was that of Cyrus's flashlight and Sydney's reading light, so Lydia and Rex were back in the shadows, and behind them was dark and the occasional reflection.  Nothing else, he reminded himself. 

The bunch continued walking for a while, Lydia breaking away from Rex and walking in front of him.  The group came to a door, and Sydney paused to take out her hairpin again.  Sydney froze, however, in the middle of detangling the pin from her hair.  "Hey, d'you hear that?"  She asked the rest of the group.   

Lydia was the second one to hear it.  A noise, soft, coming from behind them, like chains dragging on the floor.  Rex and Cyrus heard it as well, and Cyrus was the first to panic, Whispering to Sydney frantically, "Syd, please, get the door open! Now!"

Sydney quickly pulled the pin from her hair, a few copper strands coming out with the pin.  Sydney turned to the door speedily and started working on the lock, fiddling with the pin as she whispered, "Come on, come on…"

Suddenly, the noise stopped.  Everyone turned  to look into the shadows, while they had previously been watching as Sydney tried to unlock the door.   From the shadows, there came silence.  

Cyrus gulped, trying to slow his quickly beating heart; he had been afraid for a second.  It was just the wind, or something.  It had to be.  Rex's breath was still quick, the dragging chains, he was sure they weren't just something they'd all imagined, and he was closest to the shadows.  Sydney was moving her hands back to unlock the door while warily looking at the shadows, and Lydia was shaking, staring into the shadows… something was there.  She knew it.  Something inhuman.  

Everybody went tense as a raspy intake of air was heard from the shadows.  There was a sudden hiss of air, and something with a dry, harsh voice said simply, "Hungryyy…" 

There was silence for a second before something, a body that seemed sewn together, shot out of the shadowed hall, making everybody scream with surprise, and grabbed Rex around the neck.  There was enough time for Cyrus, Lydia and Sydney to hear a cry of "Help…!" emit from Rex's crushed throat before the thing came from the shadows dragged him back into the darkness.  There was a sickening wet crunch that signified the end of Rex's life. 

Lydia was screaming, a look of permanent horror plastered across her face, as Cyrus yelled, "Open the door!! Open the fuckin' door!" Sydney was working as fast as she possibly could, jiggling the door handle as she tried to trip the mechanism with the hairpin.  

There were a few sick munching noises from in the shadows, and as Lydia screamed, over and over again, a puddle of blood, getting larger and larger, crept towards what was left of the group.  Cyrus finally took something in hand and pushed Lydia behind him, since the gothic girl wouldn't move towards the door by herself.  Standing between the shadows and the girls, Cyrus had a thought; at least he'd die to protect. 

The munching noises stopped.  Another raspy intake of breath, and another one-word sentence was heard: "Moreee…" 

Both Lydia and Sydney screamed as the thing from the shadows shot out again, not two but three arms wrapping around Cyrus in a deadly embrace before pulling the male back into the shadows.  There was a scraping from the shadows, no wet-sounding crunch yet, and Cyrus's voice rang out in a futile last cry; "Sydne—!" 

The word wasn't even fully formed before the almost same sickening crunch as before was heard again.  Cyrus's last cry fell flat.   He was dead.  

Finally, there was a click and the door was open.  Sydney opened the door wide, not even grabbing her hairpin, and screamed, "Run, goddamnit!!" 

Lydia held her hand over her mouth in horror as more blood dripped from the shadows.  She didn't move, until Sydney grabbed Lydia's arm in a death grip and dragged the goth girl through the door, slamming it with a loud bang.  Before the door even closed, both girls were off running.  

Back in the hallway, the thing in the shadows stood up slowly from where it had left the corpses.  Slinking forward, the useless chains around its feet dragged along behind it.  To the door, out the door, hungry.  

---


	3. A Little look into the Past

Okaaay, here I am again, with another update.   Um, sorry to all you people who were expecting a switch back to Zim and Dib, that was what was in the works, but I've been computer-hopping lately, and…er…that chapter is, well, on a completely different computer.    *suddenly jumps out of chair and hides under desk* don't kill me painfully with a spork!! I'm working on It!  Working veeeery hard on it! I'm sorry I'm sorry!! 

Aaanyways, this has some vaguely important stuff in it.  It's a flashback, to the kid of the family who used to live in the Mansion.  Mmyep… again, please don't kill me!! 

---

A small form, that of a little girl, glossy brown hair in corkscrews that hung around her face, sat in front of a crypt.  Thinking.  The mausoleum was granite, gray in color, with an angel's form standing protectively over the door, which was padlocked.  Ivy grew up the sides of the crypt, spinning, climbing, interweaving.  Somehow the ivy had grown up the statue of the angel, wrapping around the wings.   Nobody had cleaned the ivy off, and it created an interesting look, like the angel was one with nature.  

The sky was overcast, and the trees rustled lightly in the breeze, sending more turning leaves falling in wisps of different colors.  The ground was already scattered with such leaves, the colors ranging from a pale dry green to a deep shade of orange, spotted with brown.  The path running back through the forest, back towards the mansion, was supposed to have been leaf-blown, but one couldn't tell now, the servants didn't bother on windy days, and the breeze was enough to scatter leaves along the path.   It would have been pointless to blow the leaves back where they belonged.  

The little girl looked up at the angel on top of the crypt with deep blue eyes, blank, with no emotion shining through them.    She sighed; tugging at the baggy sweater which was a size too big.  Then she spoke, as if someone was in the clearing, at the mausoleum with her. 

"Mommy, Daddy's been giving me the shots again."  She started in a voice low enough that could be considered a whisper.  Her voice grew a bit stronger, and she spoke a bit louder, as if trying to be heard.  "He says they're good for me.  But I don't feel any different."

"He says everybody else is getting them.  The gatekeeper, Sam, even Sandy, and she hates shots.  Daddy says we need them."  She took a breath, taking in the chill air, then expelling it before continuing.  "But that doesn't matter."

"They've been making me angry.  Everybody else in the Manor, that is.  I've been noticing their annoying little habits more and more.  Sam chews gum, did you know?  A lot.  He pops it, loudly.   It interrupts me when I'm trying to read.  Funny, I'd never noticed it before. "

"Jason, the new gatekeeper, his hounds are too loud at night.  I never noticed how loud they are.  Maybe the shots are helping me after all?  But, mommy, the dogs are loud.  And they don't like me.   They growl at me whenever I come near.  One even tried to attack me once.  I broke its paw.   Jason wanted to know what happened, so I told him the hound knocked a canister of kerosene, one of the big ones, onto its paw.  He believed me." The girl said, smiling slightly at the memory as a flash of anger crossed her otherwise blank features.  

"Sandy says I've been acting odd lately.  I don't know why she thinks that; I've been normal, completely normal.   She says I've grown a short temper.  She makes me angry sometimes.  Daddy says not to listen to anybody; he says their opinions don't matter.  That they're jealous because I'm better than them, for getting the shots longer than them.  He says it's okay if I want to hurt them."

Silence for a moment.  The trees rustled again, the low skittering noise of leaves blowing across pavement echoed out in the near silent clearing.   The angel on the crypt seemed to stare down with pity on the quivering form of the little girl, now seeming to be filled with anger as she mulled over what had happened in the past week since she'd been to her mother's mausoleum.    

The girl looked up at the angel, staring into the blank statue's eyes with her own anger-filled ones.  "Mommy, you were wrong.   You always said the shots were bad, no no no, don't take the shots.   But I feel better.  Better than before.   Stronger, justified.  You were wrong, Mommy.  And Daddy was right.  The shots help.  The lab helps.  The shots are special; you were jealous just like the rest, because Daddy liked it that I took the shots."

Dark angry blue eyes stared at her hands, clasped in her lap.  The breeze got stronger now, and it was getting dark, darker, too dark for 5:36 PM.  Clouds floated across the cold autumn sun as it set, explaining the darkness.  The anger faded from the sapphire eyes, and now the girl looked back up at the angel statue, bottom lip quivering slightly as panic flashed across her eyes.  

"There's something wrong with me, Mommy.   I wish you were still here.   Daddy takes me down to the labs more often now, the people are scary there.   They have animals in there, they look…wrong.  Mutated.   I saw a rabbit with its heart torn out.  It was still moving, it trailed the heart along after it, still beating.  I saw a raven, going crazy, banging against the glass until it killed itself.  I saw a mouse big as my hand.  Its heart… its heart was attached to its backbone.   I could see its heart beating through the flesh.   It was horrible, angry.   They put it in a cage with more mice, normal ones.  The mutated one ate them.   The other mice."  

The girl wrapped her arms around herself, shuddering at the memories, her eyes  clouding over.   "What's happening to me?  What's going on?  Why am I so angry…why, why?!"  A few tears trailed down the girl's face.   She unwrapped her arms from herself, creeping to the doors of the crypt and resting against them, trying to get as close to her mother as she could, before she started sobbing.  Everything was so wrong.  What was going on?  The curiosity drove her crazy.  Crazy, crazy.   Angry, crazy, hating, a red haze.   It was all wrong, something was wrong, something bad.  

Something was wrong with her.  


	4. Panicky goths and Handguns

Warnings n' stuff:  shoulda put this chapter before last, huh?  Um, character death (one of mine, not one of JV's), and (in my opinion) cute little stairway scene.    

Notes, Notes… uhh, well, it took me a while to write this, but um, I finally finished it.   Oh yeah, just to tell y'all, I'm going to try and finish this story by Halloween.   Yes, I know I sound crazy.   But, anyways.   Expect many an update tomorrow.   Rushing down to the line, ain't I?  heheh.   Now, I'm going to go do something mushy, I'm too up-tight… gah, zombies scawe me… 

Disclaimer:  Not mine.   We all know that.   What, you didn't know I didn't own it?  …sheesh, how many brain cells did you kill? 

---

After going up the stairs with Zim in tow (there had been an argument on who was going to get up first, and Dib lost), Dib had found an unlocked door, opposite the one on the first story, and had gone inside it, practically dragging Zim along.  Now he and Zim were in a dark hall that turned a sharp corner, beyond that they couldn't tell much.  

Dib waved the flashlight around, light bouncing from wall to wall.  No portraits in this room.  There was a window on the left wall, and a large tear in the wallpaper on the right.  Wood paneling lined the walls halfway up, the rest was a quality wallpaper that had obviously been damaged over the year or two the house had been vacated.

"Well, not much here."  Dib muttered.  

"Pitiful human with your flashy light, What about a light switch? Huh?"  Zim asked, arms crossed.  The Irken was obviously annoyed with the darkness of the room.    

Dib blinked in the darkness.  "Uh, Zim, nobody lives here.  There's no electricity.  It was cut a long time ago."

"What? No power?"  Zim raised an eyebrow, or would, if he had an eyebrow, and went silent, thinking.  Dib, thankful for the quiet reaction, walked forwards, down the short hall and to the corner.  Flashing the light around some more, Dib found that there was a room down the hall.  There was a thin rail separating the second story floor and a drop to the first floor, and a stairway split off from a continuation of the hall, the right side of the stairway fused with the wall of the room joining the second and first stories together.  

Dib sighed slightly.  At least the rest of the group wasn't attempting to get him running out of the mansion screaming…yet.  "Wanna stay on the second story, or go to the first?"  Dib asked Zim, tired of the silence.  

Zim blinked, snapping out of his thought process.  The little Irken practically ran after Dib and the light source.  "Errh, why are you asking _me, _Dib-stink?"  he asked when he reached Dib, a slight bit confused.    

"Because I don't feel like turning on my brain."  Dib said, albeit a bit sarcastically, before purposely flashing the flashlight's beam straight into Zim's eyes, trying to make it look like an accident.  

**"Gah!"** Zim yelped, covering his eyes as the painful light flashed into them.  "You did that on purpose, human!" 

Dib smirked and shrugged slightly.   "Maybe I did." 

Zim blinked for a couple of seconds, trying to get rid of the light spots that clouded his vision.  Zim rubbed one of his eyes, painful after the startling beam of light had been flashed straight into them.  "Stupid humans…why do I bother, why do I bother…"  Zim grumbled under his breath before pulling his hand away from his eye.  

Glaring at Dib with as much venom as he could gather, Zim demanded, "You wanted to know where to go?  Downstairs."  

"Stay on this floor it is!"  Dib said, almost merrily as he continued down the second story hall, ignoring the stairway as he passed by it.   

Zim's antennae went flat back on his head and his eye twitched.  He should have known that Dib was going to take the exact opposite of his directions.  

The little Irken ran after Dib, catching up with the taller human before saying and hoping It would work, "Uh, wait, Dib-beast!  I've changed my mind!  Second story is better!  Much better!" 

Dib stopped walking to raise an eyebrow at the irken by his side.  Disbelievingly, "You really think I'm going to believe that, Zim?"

The two beings stared at each other for a second.  Then, Zim had an idea.  Smirking with fake wickedness, Zim waved a hand in the air carelessly.  "No, no, of course not.  Disbelieve Zim, you human stink."  

Dib stared at Zim, trying for all he was worth to decide if the alien was trying to trick him into going downstairs or was being true to himself and had set up some sort of death ray in the second story.

Zim was a tiny bit worried on the inside, what if his plan failed?  For some reason upstairs didn't really seem inviting at the moment.  The Irken would much rather go back down the stairs, to the first story.  

There was silence as the two beings looked at each other, trying to figure out the other's game.   Silence, concentration, and then, down the hall in front of them, a soft moan.  

Neither Zim nor Dib jumped, but they both slowly turned and looked down the hall.  Dib held up his flashlight, skimming across the darkness down the hall to see if there was anything there.   There wasn't, except for a door on the wall, the door old and frail-looking, probably antique.  

There was more silence, it almost turned into a noise as the two beings listened for any other noises.   Nothing.  Dib relaxed, satisfied that it was probably just his imagination, and Zim's antennae flicked in annoyance.   Just as Dib opened his mouth to reply to Zim, another groan, almost louder now, echoed from down the hall.  

"Downstairs is good, downstairs is good."  Dib said quickly, spinning around fast enough that the edge of his trench coat hit Zim's head and walking back towards the stairway.  Zim followed Dib quickly, not wanting to be left behind; he was glad that he only arrived before Dib by about two minutes.  This Manor was just creepy.   

Sadly, Dib had the flashlight and was ahead of Zim.  So, while the two beings were heading down the stairs, Zim 'strategically' tripped, fell and flopped/rolled down the rest of the stairs, knocking over Dib in the process, until the two were stopped by the wall where the landing before three more steps to the first story was stationed.  

Both Dib and Zim yelped in pain when they hit the wall, coming to a complete and painful stop.  Neither the Alien nor the Human stood up or uttered a word, instead, both vouched for grumbling and making little pained noises as their now bruised bodies stopped aching a little bit.   

Cursing under his breath, Zim pushed himself up, gloved hand resting on Dib's chest as his other hand moved to rub one of his antenna, which was bent in a painful shape.   When Zim pushed himself up, Dib noticed what position he was in with the alien and froze, hand tightening around the flashlight he somehow managed to keep a hold of.  

"Zim… get off."  Dib commanded quietly.   Zim didn't seem to notice Dib, gently handling his twisted antenna instead of doing what Dib ordered.  

"Zim, seriously.  Get off."  Dib's voice was a bit higher now, warning yet somehow panicky.   This time, Zim took notice of Dib's order and tone of voice.  And it only took a second to realize why.  

Zim and Dib were tangled on the floor, Zim on top of Dib with the edge of the human's trench coat wrapped around his leg, and Dib was stuck below the irken, nervous at how close the two were.  

In the darkened room, Dib didn't even notice as Zim's face flushed to a darker shade of green than before.  Zim quickly pushed himself off of Dib, moving backwards so quickly that he banged into the stair behind him.   

Dib stood up quickly, straightening out his clothes and making sure he wasn't tangled up in anything.  He didn't look directly at Zim, and Zim didn't look directly at Dib as he stood up.  As soon as everything was back to some semblance of normal, Dib hopped down the last three stairs, flashlight beam bouncing around the first story room they were now in.   

Zim followed quickly, careful not to trip over any steps this time and still a darker green than usual.  

Of course, just as Zim and Dib were calming down from the fall, something had to happen.   There was a scream and the slam of a door, sounding too close to comfort from room they were both in.  Both beings shivered, but neither moved as the thumping of footsteps drew closer.  Dib focused the flashlight beam on the door the running footsteps were coming from, and Zim tensed up, looking ready to either run or pounce if it was needed.  

The door flew open, and, not bothering to close the door, a dark and familiar figure practically flew out of the shadowy doorway in a panic, not looking ahead or behind herself before she ran into Dib.    The shadowy female screamed and jumped back, turning to run a different way, and Dib yelped as well, before actually getting a good look at the person who ran into him.  

"Holy shit, Lydia?"  Dib's voice was a bit squeaky, adrenaline obviously coursing through the teenage human's body.  Lydia stopped and whirled around to face Dib, face whiter than usual even with makeup, and breathing harshly, like she'd been running a long time.  

Lydia's eyes widened slightly, and she gasped between breaths, "Dib…?"  Then the goth girl's eyes secured a look at the small figure standing next to Dib.   Her eyes widened more and she yelped, "Shit, another monster!"

Zim blinked, raising a would-be eyebrow in confusion, then remembering he didn't have his disguise on.  "Augh!"  Zim yelped, covering his antennae with his hands and trying to hide behind Dib futilely.  "Another stinkbeast has found out!  No!  The mission is in jeopardy!"  

Dib raised an eyebrow as well.  "Monster? No, that's just Zim."  Immediately, Dib turned concerned; and interested.  "What do you mean, monster?"

Lydia had backed up against a wall.  Now her knees were getting weak, and she let herself slide down the wall, to the floor.  She shuddered, fastening her disturbingly blank eyes on Dib.  "This place is really fucked up."

"Whoa, wait, what happened?"  Dib was now a little worried.   It must be really fucked up if Lydia was afraid, Lydia was one of the more nasty Goths, fascinated with horror and death. 

Zim sighed lightly as he watched the two humans converse; he was at the moment more worried about his mission.  The Lydia-human had seen him without his disguise on, not good.  

But after Dib asked Lydia what happened, there was silence.  Lydia was now staring blankly just above Dib's shoulder, head tilting to the side slightly.  It took a second, but then Lydia licked her lips and inhaled; then she explained in two or three word sentences, best she could.   "Rex and Cyrus.  Dead.  Something ate them.  Dag's missing.  Sydney ran.  I did too.   Got separated.  Ran into you."  

There was silence for a moment more, a look of mild skepticism pasted across Dib's face.  "Let me guess."  Dib started.  "Everybody's trying to get me spooked, right?  I knew there was a reason you took Drama last year, Lydia."  

Dib sighed slightly and turned, still a bit disbelieving.  "After all, Zim and I haven't seen anything that could eat someone here."

Immediately, Lydia's eyes widened in panic, a fearful look, genuine, crossing her face as she moved to get up.   Stumbling, Lydia lunged forwards when she got to her knees, grabbing the end of Dib's trench coat and making the paranormal investigator jolt to a stop.  "No, Dib!  I'm not joking!  Something _killed_ them! Please, you've got to believe me!"  

Zim crossed his arms, now in a slightly bad mood for a reason that only he knew, and it wasn't one he wanted to share.   Dib paused, turning back to face Lydia, skeptical look slowly dissipating.  "You're really not joking, are you, Lydia?"  

The gothic girl shook her head no so fervently that her carefully gelled and tied up hair came loose in chunks, falling around her face.   

An uncertain look crossed Dib's face, and the human glanced at the irken by his side.  "Zim, I really hate asking, but, any input…?"

The irken sighed, uncrossing his arms and looking at the ceiling as if begging to know why all humans were so stupid.   "This Lydia-human speaks truth, Dib-beast.   The human emotion you call panic is what she's operating off of now, stinkbeast."

Dib looked from between Zim to Lydia, then sighed.   He reached out a hand to help Lydia up, and the goth girl took it.  Lydia stood and opened her mouth to thank Dib, when a gunshot rang out, loud and breaking the quiet.   The two humans and one alien turned towards where the gunshot came from, and Zim spoke;  "What was that?"

---15 or so minutes before---

Sydney rushed through the halls, breathing hard, everything just a blur, running, running.   She had lost Lydia along the way somewhere, she knew, but the animal panic that consumed her prevented her from caring.  After all, you only had to run faster than your friends, right?

Oh shit, another door.   Running towards it, Sydney pulled the hairpin out of her hair, ready to pick the lock when she got to the door.  Sliding to a stop in front of the door, Sydney shoved the hairpin in the lock, twisting and turning, scratching about the insides of the lock to get the mechanism to switch back to unlocked.   Why the hell were all the doors locked in the house? 

The lock clicked.  Sydney tugged the hairpin from the door, and twisted the doorknob, rushing into the next room.  And, that was the thing, it was a _room_.  Leaning against the closed door, Sydney let her heart beat slow.   The room was covered in a fine layer of dust, the room just a simple bedroom, with a neatly made bed and a desk in the corner.  On the desk, Sydney noticed, was a handgun.   

Sydney was confused.   Why was there a handgun, on a desk that would never be used again?   She shrugged mentally, pushing herself from the door and walking towards the desk, skirting the bed and ignoring the closet door on the left wall.  

Reaching out, Sydney took the handgun.   Checking, she found one bullet missing.   That wasn't very comforting.   Sydney glanced at the desk again, brushing away a paper to reach a cubbyhole.   Reaching into said compartment, Sydney's fingers traced something, and she smirked.  More ammo.   She was about to pull the spare ammo from the desk when there was a thump from behind her.   Spinning, handgun cocked, Sydney surveyed the room at eye level.   Nothing behind her, was there?  Nope. 

Sydney cautiously started to turn back to the desk, but a scraping sound, like something dragging, started up.   Panic suddenly flew up, raising its frightening head; what if the chained _thing was coming?  Sydney cocked the gun again, finger caressing the trigger.  _

And something grabbed her foot, dragging her down to the floor.  Sydney shrieked as she fell, hard, and the gun went off in her hand, hitting the bed and leaving a smoking hole.  

Sydney dropped the gun, foolishly, and crossed her arms in front of her face, closing her eyes tight.  Whatever dragged her to the floor suddenly loomed above her, dragging itself over her body before a disgusting rotting hand pushed her arms in front of her eyes, and a sharp, agonizing pain exploded in her neck.  Sydney couldn't breath, panic and something else preventing her from it.  Warm liquid dripped across her neck, making her skin slick and wet.   

Darkness crept in from the edges of Sydney's vision, agony beating a painful rhythm from her throat, when she realized, she was bleeding.   _Aw, fuck._

---


	5. Was it ever normal?

I have much more written down, just not enough for another chapter just yet.   Forgive me, I shall write more!!  … in the meantime, I demand you review.   Prettiest of pleases?...

Disclaimer:  Would I be writing fanfic about it if I owned it?  … yeah, probably, but NO! I don't own it.  

---  
  
Zim was in the lead as they walked through the halls of the mansion, this   
time. Lydia was terrified, recoiling from the walls of the hall, the   
shadows, anything she could recoil from, really, and Dib seemed to be the   
only person who could calm her down enough to get her to follow. The   
flashlight gripped tightly in his gloved hand, Zim frowned lightly as he was   
left to his own judgmental thoughts.  
  
  
Dib, in the background, was annoyed. Lydia was scared, which was creepy   
enough, but now she was cutting off the circulation in his arm, which made   
it all the worse. Lydia had latched onto his arm and wouldn't let go as soon   
as they entered the hallway she had ran in from. Whatever scared her scared   
her bad.  
  
  
And Lydia was just plain scared out of her mind, shaking and shivering,   
jumping at any movement she saw out of the corner of her eyes, which was a   
lot since the only light came from a flashlight. She was so close to letting   
go and just running, running like hell. But then again, there were people   
here. People she knew, except for the fact she felt that now, the minute kid   
she'd known as Zim was a stranger. But hell, it was better than nothing.  
  
Minutes later, they came to a split in the hall, two other hallways running   
out from the left and right halls. Zim stopped to turn around, flashing the   
beam of the flashlight into both of the following humans' eyes. "Well?" The   
Irken snapped, glaring at Lydia. The goth girl, already vulnerable,   
shuddered slightly, then looked out at the other two halls.  
  
  
"I'm pretty sure I ran from that one." Lydia pointed at the right hall, then   
thought a bit, glancing around. "Can you turn the light on that wall?" She   
asked timidly, motioning to the opposite wall. Zim rolled his eyes and,   
without looking at the opposite wall, redirected the beam at it.  
  
  
Lydia nodded to herself as the flashlight beam lit up a table, an old   
fringed lamp sitting dejectedly on top of the table. "Yeah, I definitely   
came out of the right hall, so Syd must have gone down the left."  
  
Dib sighed a bit. "Might as well go after Sydney, then. Let's go."  
  
Zim shrugged and walked on, leading yet again. The small group of three   
walked down the left hall, which was surprisingly long. At one point, Zim   
had enough and grumbled something about mazelike empty useless stinkbeast   
abodes.  
  
Finally the little group got to a door. Old, with paint peeling, the door   
looked very fitting in the dark mansion's corridors. Zim was the one who   
opened the door, slightly surprised that the door was unlocked. Flinging it   
open, the little Irken marched through, then immediately stopped, a   
high-pitched squeak escaping him.  
  
Dib raised an eyebrow. "Zim?" he asked, moving into the room and then   
stopping behind the little Irken, jaw dropped open. Lydia eeped and   
uncharacteristically hid her face, which meant squeezing Dib's arm tighter   
and burying her face into Dib's trench coat sleeve.  
  
The flashlight beam was fastened on a foot, clad in Sydney's almost   
signature platform sneakers, sticking out past the edge of the room's neat   
little bed, sprawled across the floor.  
  
"That's Sydney." Dib gulped before continuing. "You don't think she's-?"  
  
Zim narrowed his eyes. "What else would she be, Dib." At this, Lydia   
squeaked, quivering noticeably.  
  
"Well, er, she could have, er, tripped." Dib offered lamely, staring at the   
unmoving foot of Sydney, illuminated, just barely, by the reading light   
Sydney always carried.  
  
"Check, then." Zim commanded.  
  
Dib, for some reason, rose to the challenge in Zim's voice. "Fine, I will!"   
The paranormal investigator said, walking forwards into the room and passing   
the bed, nose in the air so that he didn't see. Lydia trailed after Dib,   
still attached to him by the arm and still hiding her face.  
  
Zim sighed and followed Dib, stopping short when he got to the nearer corner   
of the bed, antennae twitching as if trying to catch a noise on the wind. He   
was sure he heard.  
  
Then Dib's voice was heard, a weak, "Dear God." before the scythe-haired   
human fell to his knees, and vomiting noises were heard, followed by Lydia's   
small shriek.  
  
"What?" Zim asked, antennae falling back into their normal position as he   
moved over to look at what Lydia and Dib already saw.  
  
When he did, the Irken paled considerably. If he could, he would have been   
sick all over the floor, like Dib.  
  
Sydney's body was left, head tilted to the side and mouth open in a silent   
scream, arms crossed at the wrists above her head, resting on her bright red   
dyed hair. Zim's gaze traveled down from the corpse's face, and the irken   
shuddered lightly, the throat of the corpse was torn out, leaving a bloody   
mess to look at, a stringy vein or two still fully intact and traveling up   
her neck. Lower still, her chest was normal, but below the ribcage was the   
most disgusting part. Looking dissected, a long flap of flesh was torn away   
from the ribcage, down past the other organs and laid across the corpse's   
legs. Speaking of organs, everything was misplaced in the deep pool of   
blood, stomach and intestines, liver and more.  
  
Zim finally shook himself out of whatever shock he had been in, glancing at   
the two humans in the room along with him. Dib was still making disgusting   
heaving noises, even though Zim was sure the human had already emptied   
whatever he hadn't digested onto the floor. Lydia was quivering, eyes wide   
and unseeing through a haze of disgust and panic, hands to her mouth and   
looking completely traumatized. Zim couldn't blame the female.  
  
Breaking into his thoughts, Zim thought he heard a quiet noise, from behind   
him, maybe from that door he didn't bother mentioning to the two others   
earlier. His antennae twitched, and the Irken frowned slightly; why would   
there be someone in a closet?  
  
The Irken was about to turn when he heard the other door bang open. Lydia,   
and even Dib, quelling his sickness for a moment, looked up, and Zim spun   
around, flashlight beam bouncing wildly.  
  
Though the beam of light was a bit uncontrollable, Zim could see what had come from the door; some kind of walking human that looked like he should have been dead, eyeball dripping out of its socket. What did the humans call them? Oh yes, Zombies. For some reason, Zim knew he should be panicking, after all, he was closest to the rotting walking corpse, but the Irken didn't really take notice of the Zombie's menacing growl, or Lydia's screaming, or Dib's yell. All he did notice was the fact that the Zombie was too close, and the fact that he had a laser stored in his Pak somewhere.  
  
Almost automatically, Zim reached behind him, touching his pak, which immediately ejected the laser gun into his hand. The Irken straightened his arm in a flash, righting the gun and firing. There was a disgusting little sizzle, and the Zombie was now a standing corpse with a blackened stump where his head should be.

Silence for a moment, everybody stood staring at the standing headless corpse, Zim brandishing flashlight and laser.   Then, the corpse twitched, tilting forwards, then falling backwards across the floor.  Everything seemed to start moving again.  Lydia was shaking, hands over her mouth which was probably open in a silent scream, and Dib stared blankly for a second, before saying the most unexpected thing for that situation. 

"Holy Shit! Zim, you had a laser gun?!  You could've **killed me!  Why did I trust you in the first place?!  This should have been something I should have expected from an alien scum like you!" Dib yelled, a tremor of fear obvious in his tone.  **

Zim raised a would-be eyebrow as he turned calmly back to face Dib and Lydia.  "You should have expected me to save your life?" The Irken asked disbelievingly.  

"Wha—? No! I meant—argh…" 

Zim nodded unsympathetically.  The Irken frowned slightly before walking around the zombie corpse, carefully not letting even his boot brush the side of the disgusting rotted thing.  "Come, Human stinkbeasts."  The Irken said as he made his way to the door, leaving Dib and Lydia in the darker side of the room.  

Lydia eeped, and instead of opting to stay with Dib, she quickly followed Zim, skirting the zombie's body fearfully, as if she expected it to wake up and grab her.  

Dib was about to follow, standing up and swaying slightly from being sick before he wiped the back of his trench coat sleeve across his mouth.  He was about to turn and go after Zim and Lydia when he saw something on the ground, next to Sydney's corpse.   Cautiously, Dib leaned down and picked up Sydney's reading light, which was by her foot.  Turning the beam around and trying to avoid, best he could, looking straight at the ripped open corpse, Dib's eyes widened slightly as he saw what was next to the corpse.  It could be of use.  The Paranormal Investigator leaned down swiftly, grabbing the item and then stuffing it in his pocket after checking something.   Then Dib turned, running after Lydia and Zim.  Surprising to Dib was the fact that, right outside the door, Zim and Lydia waited for him.  

After the little group was united, Zim turned to lead the two humans down the dark hall again, unnoticing the few little red splatters on Dib's free hand.   Just as the Irken was about to take his first step down the hall, there was a zapping noise from behind them, and light flickered from the open doorway behind them.  Gulping simultaneously, the small group turned to see what had happened.  The lamp on the desk in the room had flickered on.  

Soon, the flickering light traveled into the hall, where ceiling lights that the group didn't notice before flickered on, then off, then on completely.   This continued down the hall, illuminating the hallway and the room behind them.  

Lydia gulped.  "That isn't normal."  She announced. 

Zim looked thoughtful as his antennae twitched a couple times.  He shrugged.  "At least we can see now."  He pointed out. 

"Oh yeah, great, we can see now!  Who _cares that the lights came on in a __spooooky way with no power whatsoever!"  Dib ranted, mostly to himself because Lydia had learned to tune out the rants, and Zim didn't care, he was already walking back down the hall with Lydia following.  _

Dib sighed as he noticed this, and jammed his hands into his trench coat pockets, avoiding setting off the thing he had picked up in the room.  The Paranormal Investigator, defeated for the moment, walked after the two ahead of him.  He'd make them listen later.  


End file.
